The present invention relates generally to hyperbaric chambers and more particularly to a safety mechanism and associated control systems for delivering hyperbaric oxygen therapy to one or more persons.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is indicated for treating many medical conditions and for training regimens such as the treatment of severe burns, peripheral vascular disease, carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression illness and the like. Such therapy is generally administered in a hyperbaric pressure vessel. In the case of sports injuries or training, athletes can benefit from exercising within a hyperbaric pressure vessel.
Typically, hyperbaric therapy requires that the pressure in the vessel be varied at a predetermined rate from atmospheric up to a treatment level which may be as high as three atmospheres. The pressure is then maintained at a substantially constant level for a predetermined time or “soaking interval”. Following the soaking interval, the pressure is reduced to atmospheric at a predetermined rate. During the treatment cycle, the temperature in the vessel is required to be controlled and the air is required to be circulated and cleansed of the carbon dioxide exhaled by the patient undergoing therapy. A means for passing articles into and out of the chamber while the chamber is pressurized, is also required.
Current hyperbaric chambers suffer from a number of deficiencies which cause discomfort to the patient, require excessive human intervention to monitor and control the treatment cycle and present safety hazards. Typically, the environment in the vessel is excessively noisy due to the noise generated by the compressor required to elevate the pressure in the vessel and due to blowers required to circulate the air in the vessel. Further, the pressure in typical hyperbaric chambers is manually controlled requiring constant attention by an operator. Further, airlocks for passing articles into and out of the pressure vessel may be operated in a manner which could cause injury by allowing the door to the airlock to be opened while the airlock is pressurized.
Accordingly, there is a need for a hyperbaric oxygen therapy system which: (1) provides automatic control of the pressure, ventilation and temperature of the gas in the pressure vessel, (2) reduces the noise in the pressure vessel and (3) provides a means for passing articles into and out of the pressure vessel which cannot present a hazardous condition to the operator.